The Holidays

The holidays were great to spend with friends and family.  I spent Thanksgiving around Daytona with family, and Christmas/New Year's in South Florida with Shannon, family, and friends.

The exciting parts were a couple of canoeing trips.  One was a day trip on the Loxahatcheee River, near Jupiter.

Great Blue Heron on the Loxahatchee River

Then, for three days, we went on a canoeing trip through The Everglades.  I've done this trip once before, but The Everglades are always magnificent and the others in the group had not been paddling through there before.  Due to 'complications' (a leaking canoe), we only got one night on the water and spent the first night at a campground that also happened to be the Skunkape Research Headquarters (Skunkape is the Everglade's Big Foot).  Quite a quirky place, but very fun.

Sunset on Lopez River, Everglades National Park

Paddling through Cross Bay, Everglades National Park

Call for Holiday Giving: Camp Sky & D2D

I don't know if anyone still reads this, but if you do, it's that time of year again.  Camp Sky fundraising is going on now.  If you can give a little or a lot this holiday season, this is an awesome opportunity for the students of Malawi (and who are we kidding, the PCVs, too).  I donated, but will you?

Click here to donate to Camp Sky 2015.

Do you want to donate even more tax-deductible money to another cause?  Determined to Develop (our partner in the library project) is always looking for help with their projects.

Disclaimer: When I joined the Peace Corps, I swore I would not become one of the cliche aid workers that is always asking friends and family for money and using website with cheesy pictures of "Africans."  I am not trying to perpetuate the belief that only WE can help THEM.  However, these are two causes that I was involved with while there and are primarily aimed at empowering Malawians with the skills they need to help themselves.  It's not that they "need" us, it's just nice to help someone else when you can.  And you can.

Blueberry Travels

The Blueberry and my travel buddy, Shannon.

So, instead of being responsible and getting a job, I've been on a road-trip.  Here's a brief recap.

I had a layover in Denver, so I extended it to a 5 day layover to visit friends.

Then, I had my flight to Oklahoma City to stay with Donald in Edmond.  While there, he took me up with him for a flying lesson, we visited the Wichita Mountains, went mountain biking, and cooked many amazing meals.  Shannon picked me up the next week in her car, The Blueberry.

I joined Shannon in the Blueberry when she picked me up at Donald's.  From there, we stayed two nights at Lake Tenkiller State Park, one night in the Ozark National Forest at Lake Weddington, then we visited the Walmart Museum/first store before staying in Fayetteville for two nights.  After Fayetteville, we had an overnight backpacking hike on the Ozark Highlands Trail.

After a very late exit from the Ozarks, we drove overnight to Nashville to visit with Chris, Tori, and Abby (Chorby).  We stayed with them for a week.  Over the weekend, Shannon and Tori (Shori) went to Atlanta for the Southern Living Fair and Chris and I hung out in Nashville.  Following our stay in Nashville, we had a quick stop to walk around the University of Tennessee's campus, then stayed with a friend of Shannon's in Johnson City (I kept signing Wagon Wheel), before starting the Blue Ridge Highway at Grandfather Mountain State Park.

We entered the Blue Ridge Highway in North Carolina at Grandfather Mountain (mile marker 300) where we hiked and spent the night.  We then drove north the rest of the length of the highway, spending another night camping at Rocky Knob.  The Blue Ridge was incredible!  It didn't hurt that we were there when the trees were in full color, but after the major rush of visitors.

From the Blue Ridge, we proceeded to my old site-mate, Aaron's house outside of DC.  We spent Halloween in DC and I spent the whole next day exploring the capital.

After DC, I drove to New Jersey and stayed with Erol and his parents.

Rode a bus into NYC, then used the subway while I was there staying there a week in Brooklyn.  At the end of the week, I went back to Erol's where Shannon picked me back up.

We stayed with a friend of Shannon's in Phili where we saw Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, then stayed with my Aunt in Williamsburg (with a very brief visit to Jamestown and a ride on the Jamestown ferry).  From there, we proceeded to Wake Forest to have a late lunch with a friend and then camped outside of town.  Finally, we drove down to Savannah and stayed with Matt and Amber, where I finally got to meet their newest daughter, Penny.

Finally, after all that time on the road, we returned to the Sunshine State for a couple of Gator games.